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The story
On September 23, TV personality Shinobu Sakagami (59) appeared at a talk show held alongside the “Naomi Kawashima Animal Welfare Award” ceremony, lamenting Japan’s lagging animal welfare legislation: “For such a blessed country, it’s hard to think of one that’s this far behind.” On the 5ch thread, commenters repeatedly criticized live-animal display sales at pet shops and the oversight of breeders, with many arguing Japan should follow Europe’s lead by ending storefront sales in favor of direct purchases from breeders or adoptions from shelters. Meanwhile, opinion split between an extreme camp arguing that people should simply stop keeping pets altogether, and those who supported pet ownership but wanted tighter regulation of shops and breeders.
Shinobu Sakagami laments Japan’s animal welfare situation: “Few countries are this far behind” — calls for legal reform
On the 23rd, TV personality/actor Shinobu Sakagami (59) and pastry chef Toshihiko Yoroizuka appeared at the talk show “Living Together: Toward a Happy Future for Both Animals and People,” held alongside the 10th “Naomi Kawashima Animal Welfare Award” ceremony. They spoke out about the challenges facing animal welfare in Japan.
At the event, Sakagami shared his view: “Our predecessors built this country into something so truly blessed, and yet when it comes to laws regarding animals, I don’t think there are many countries that are this far behind — that’s the reality. Honestly, I find it embarrassing.”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Exactly this.
"Pets," seriously?
The arrogance is off the charts.
Costs more, but buying from a pet shop just feels better.
Well, it's over then.
A country that neglects its own citizens' lives was never going to care about small animals' lives either…
Kill or injure a pet and it's just "property damage."
I wish they'd fix that first.
Let's stop keeping animals.
Pet shops and live-display sales might well be a problem.
If you're going to abolish them, regulate the breeders instead.
Squeeze the breeders supplying the pets and pet shops will naturally become unviable.
Just write the laws so that's how it plays out.
Is he even in a position to lecture others?
He doesn't have any pedigree dogs at all, does he?
How do animals get distributed there then?
You buy directly from breeders.
What's wrong with pet shops is that they invite impulse buying.
The whole system of displaying animals and selling them like merchandise is the problem.
Live-animal sales at storefronts are banned.
You either buy directly from a breeder or adopt from a shelter.
Saw this on some TV show once — the shelters there are run really properly too, completely different from Japan's adoption events.
He should at least give a few clear, concrete examples, or it won't land with people who aren't already into animal welfare.
Nice to meet you 🐱
Her name's Tirukayo.
Meanwhile people like Hikakin or the "Mochimaru Diary" account gushing over how cute folded-ear Scottish Folds are — that's embarrassing, pet-welfare-backwater behavior.
Bad comparison maybe, but it'd normally make you sad to see someone call a disabled person's disability "cute," right?
Finding a disabled person's disability "cute" isn't really the problem, is it? That's just a charm point.
The actual problem is "deliberately breeding disabled creatures into existence to make them cute."
Don't mix those two up.
Folded-ear Scottish Folds have joint disorders from horrifically bad breeding and live their whole lives in severe pain.
Bulldogs have had their noses and legs bred shorter and shorter through breeding,
so they're born with breathing trouble — without nostril-widening surgery before age one they can suffocate — and natural birth is impossible, so it's 100% C-sections.
And Corgis get docked as puppies because people think their "loaf of bread" butts are cute.
It's insane, all just for looks.
Perfect way to cash in on his name recognition.
Scary that this kind of thing actually flies in this world.
Ranked where out of how many countries in the world, you trash-talker?
Background and Key Points of This Topic
Japan’s animal welfare laws saw stiffer penalties under the 2019 revision of the Act on Welfare and Management of Animals, but regulation of live-animal sales and breeders is still considered looser than in European countries. Many European countries ban live-animal display sales at pet shops, with buyers instead adopting directly from breeders or through shelters — a contrast that came up repeatedly in the thread as a concrete example. That said, it’s worth noting that Sakagami’s remarks didn’t offer specifics on which country Japan is being compared to or by how much it lags, and commenters in the thread also called for evidence backing up the international comparison. The debate split along a line between cautious calls for tighter regulation of pet shops and breeders, and a more extreme position that people should simply stop keeping pets altogether — with the real disagreement being where exactly that regulatory line should be drawn. This article excludes replies amounting to abuse directed at animals or people, unrelated political attacks, or baseless personal attacks.
*This article is compiled as an excerpt/summary of the 5ch (Geino/Sports News+) thread “[Entertainment] Shinobu Sakagami laments Japan’s animal welfare situation: “Few countries are this far behind” — calls for legal reform.”
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